dukecornwell Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Not quite the best-ever attendance that year, from what I know. I believe Allentown had better attendance at least one of the years that Fred Windish and his crew were the local committee running the show. Hopefully Fred can come on here and confirm or deny my hunch!Fran Fran, do you have stats for '71. Somewhere I remember hearing 20,000. Is that true? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melligene Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 there were some early shows in our history that had more people than Rochester in 96 - but the 9600 paid there was the highest in "modern" times...some of those early shows with higher attandance were in Rochester at Aquinas (Holleder) stadium and a couple were in Allentown early on, but once into the 80's... and 90's Rochester 96 was tops... We all can remember that Aquinas was in the era when you could actually sell a cheap backfield seat... we would turn and go backfield there an be surprised at the number of people were there... of course the show design was far more friendly to the back side... Speaking of Aquinas stadium I was there in 1969 when the Hurcs won and it was SRO. I believe I heard the stadium held 20,000. Tom P. would probably know for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Matczak Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Speaking of Aquinas stadium I was there in 1969 when the Hurcs won and it was SRO. I believe I heard the stadium held 20,000. Tom P. would probably know for sure. my dad took us kids in 68................we sat halfway around the horseshoe, and seats were sold much further past us,.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fran Haring Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Fran, do you have stats for '71. Somewhere I remember hearing 20,000. Is that true? I don't know anything about DCA Championships in 1971, except that the Skyliners won!!!! Fran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimF-LowBari Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Late 70s DCA albums had a rough attendance figure on them but not trusting my memory to say what it was. 13K-17K sounds familar but don't know if that was paid attendance or number of warm bodies. And IIRC corrently Hershey seats 8K in each grandstand (those of us who might have been at 79-80 DCA). Not making comparision to today, just trying to add to the history portion of this thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Matczak Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 (edited) Late 70s DCA albums had a rough attendance figure on them but not trusting my memory to say what it was. 13K-17K sounds familar but don't know if that was paid attendance or number of warm bodies. And IIRC corrently Hershey seats 8K in each grandstand (those of us who might have been at 79-80 DCA).Not making comparision to today, just trying to add to the history portion of this thread. I just read the back of the 78 LP Jacket, and it says "a record evening crown of some 14,000 drum corps enthusiasts,........." the "crown" typo is on the jacket,............. Edited September 9, 2009 by Gary Matczak Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wishbonecav Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_7tsmgYAv2ao/SHOk...2BRochester.jpg holleder provides the backdrop here...still searching for a photo...we had one in the dca96 yearbook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ripper Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 I felt that numbers were down based on the number of people sititng at the ends of the lower section last year they ran right around into the bleacher section and was pretty full at that there was one whole section empty before even getting to the bleachers yhis year economy I guess but the show was awesome, anyone that was not there missed out big time congrats Govies and Bucs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomPeashey Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 22000 at a soccer game for the Rochester Lancers (especially when NY brought in Pele) was not unusual... so with the crowds going well into the horshoe and past the halfway mark AND having a fair number of cheap seat ticket holders on the back 50... crowd estimates of 13000 to 15000 for shows in Aquinas/Holleder are not off the mark... however, there are NO official stats for that stuff... no one has those records. An interesting side note for those who don't know: Vince Bruni was a major stockholder (minority owner) in the Rochester Lancers and did his best to buy Holleder Stadium and save it for drum corps. His efforts went contrary to what the city wanted but he came very close and after the fact, many admitted that he was right and they were wrong. Among other things, the demolition of the stadium went way over budget. That place was built like a WWII bunker... It would have lasted forever... Those were simpler times and combined with shows being more omnidirectional - FILLING Aquinas in the 50's was something that happened regularly... Times change - shows are VERY directional - people have entertainment choices that were inconceivable back then... However, the memory of '96 still gives us hope that we can bring in more locals - at least for prelims - these would be people I met out in the ticket lines back in '96 and when I asked what brought them to the stadium the almost unanimous answer was: "Mom and Dad used to take me to Aquinas Stadium when I was a kid and when I heard about this, thought I'd relive those memories." And this happened because of this being the first ever event in Frontier Field... consequently the media played it up big for the week before... While we may never get that kind of hype again, we did get the best ever coverage of our 4 years in Rochester and should have an easier time getting this kind of coverage in advance next year. We will work on this very hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Brace Posted September 9, 2009 Author Share Posted September 9, 2009 Thanks, Tom.There's no question that DCI outdraws DCA at its championship each year. That's just a fact of life. I'm OK with that, as long as we can continue growing the DCA audience nationwide, as all-age corps begin to pop up in regions of the country outside the "traditional" Northeast. Jeff Ream makes a good point.... at this point in DCA's history, a packed smaller stadium looks a lot better than a three-quarters empty big stadium. DCA Championship weekend is indeed something special. Tom, it would be great if you could come out some year and see it for yourself! Fran Unfortunately, I have annual volunteer work I do here in the Valley for a charity event on Labor Day and I do not guess DCA is going to move Finals to accommodate me. One could hope, right? It's not about comparing attendance, or performance quality or really anything else. Even though both circuits promote excellence in drum corps, they are clearly both drum corps, but clearly different flavors. I believe most of this comes from the age restrictions for DCI performers and the lack of such restrictions for DCA. This draws different fans by the very nature of who participates. Anyway, still being able to experience drum corps is the important thing. And whether there is a DCA competition in your area, a DCI competition, or a combined competition, we should make the efforts to support drum corps in our area. The alternative is most undesirable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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